RIM-7 Seasparrow/RIM-162 ESSM

摘要

The RIM-7 Seasparrow is a navalized air defense version of the AIM-7 Sparrow air-to-air missile (see report). The missile forms the basis of the NATO Seasparrow Missile System (NSSMS), a ship-based air defense system in use with the US Navy and a number of other NATO countries, as well as Japan, New Zealand, and Australia. The final production versions were the RIM-7M and RIM-7P and about 9,300 missiles were manufactured, of which about 850 were for export. The last year of US Navy procurement funding for the RIM-7M was FY89. Japan manufactured the RIM-7 under license with about 180 manufactured. The NATO Seasparrow consortium is currently funding the RIM-162 Evolved Seasparrow (ESSM) that uses a new missile capable of intercepting supersonic sea-skimming antiship missiles. In June 1995, Hughes won the competition with Raytheon for the development of this version (Hughes is now part of Raytheon). The RIM-162 ESSM entered production in 2003 with the first client being the Australian Navy. The first year of US procurement funding for the ESSM was FY01 and initial operation capability on the DDG-51 class was in the spring of 2004. The recent US Navy procurement objective was 1,420 missiles with 595 having been funded through FY10.